MINNEAPOLIS — By the time Derrick Williams peeled off his blue warm-ups and checked into Friday night's 98-87 Cleveland Cavaliers victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, Kyrie Irving already had six points, three assists and a rebound — and was more than a minute into his first breather.
Such is the difference between the headliners of the 2011 NBA draft class.
Irving, selected a spot ahead of Williams by Cleveland with the first overall pick, finished Friday's contest in double figures for the sixth straight game with 14 points. He also tied a career high with five rebounds, but it was his career-worst seven turnovers that stood out as on this night veterans Antawn Jamison and Anderson Varejao did the heavy lifting.
"Maybe it is a little bit of a fine line because I want him to be aggressive and attack," Cavaliers coach Byron Scott said. "But I also want him to be smart. I'm asking a lot from a 19-year-old rookie, but I expect him to do it and I think he has the ability to do it."
Though they were drafted back to back, Irving and Williams find themselves in markedly different situations. Irving, the fourth-youngest player in the NBA, is Cleveland's de facto franchise player. He was saddled with the burden of replacing LeBron James simply by virtue of his draft status. Nevermind that James is a once-in-a-lifetime athlete.
The Cavaliers felt Irving could handle the pressure, selecting the 6-foot-3 point guard despite the fact he played just 11 games in his only season at Duke thanks to a foot injury. The former Blue Devil has responded in kind, averaging 14.1 points, 5.3 assists and 3.9 rebounds in 26 minutes per game while helping Cleveland to a surprising four victories through seven games after winning only 19 games a season ago. It would have been five if Irving had made his layup at the end of regulation against Indiana on December 30.
Irving had a rough night on Wednesday against Toronto, too, but recovered nicely from his 3 for 13 shooting performance on Friday.
"I did have a few games I struggled a little bit, but it's going to happen," Irving said. "I'm not going to be perfect every game. Just looking forward to getting better. This bounceback game is really important."
Williams, who's averaging a shade under 19 minutes per game off the bench for Minnesota, sees Irving contributing to his team's early-season success and covets the opportunity. But he also understands he's playing behind an All-Star in Kevin Love and another former No. 2 pick in Michael Beasley.
"I didn't start my first game at Arizona," Williams said. "I started every game after that. I have a lot of patience, so I'm just waiting on my turn."
Williams has shown flashes of what put him in the top-pick conversation last summer, punctuated by a trio of ferocious alley-oops courtesy of lobs from fellow rookie Ricky Rubio, including one in the fourth quarter Friday night. The 20-year-old has shown NBA 3-point range — hitting four of his 13 attempts from beyond the arc this season — and has played decent defense while mostly at the power forward position.
Williams was a bit of a question mark coming out of Arizona thanks to his status as a tweener — bigger than most small forwards but smaller than most power forwards — a fact Scott reiterated prior to Friday's game in the Irving-versus-Williams debate.
Minnesota coach Rick Adelman has played Williams mostly at power forward, in part to bring him along slowly.
"Derrick surprises you — he has got a lot of ability especially at the four spot," Adelman said after Minnesota's season-opening loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. "He is kind of overwhelmed right now. Defensively, where should I be, offensively where should I be? That is why we kind of just put him at the four spot to just let him come along gradually. He has got talent."
Williams has made baby steps since and is shooting 51.2 percent from the floor but has yet to post a breakout performance. His season high of 13 points came against the Thunder in the season opener. Friday's dozen points marked just his third double-digit scoring effort of the season, with nine coming in the second quarter when the Wolves badly needed a spark.
The former Wildcat has cut back on his turnovers with just one in his last four games after committing eight in his first three. But otherwise he's averaging just 4.1 rebounds per night and not much else.
It's all a part of adjusting to a different role in a different league.
"I'm used to having a lot of things ran for me," Williams said after facing Oklahoma City. "I'm learning my role. I've talked to (Thunder guard) James Harden before; he's one of the best sixth men off the bench. He's telling me to be patient. That's what I have to do."
The young potential star will be asked to carry more of the load soon enough. And when he is, Williams can tweet to his 2011 draft comrade, as he's already does on occasion, and ask for some advice. Just seven games into his NBA career, Irving has plenty of experience.
